Of Forgotten Dreams (Book 1) [NANOWRIMO 2022]

Chapter 9

Yun woke up against the table, feeling something warm draped around her shoulders. The sky was still dark outside, but Yun could tell that it was almost dawn. She stretched, rolling out her stiff shoulders as she did so. It had been almost another two weeks since she had stuck with her current routine, bringing her into the middle of winter.

Her father was still not getting any better, which had made her increasingly perplexed and nervous about his health. She knew that the coming of winter made the recovery of colds in general much more tedious, but it wasn't until this extent. She had never, in both of her dreams and in real life, heard or seen something like this before.

She shuffled the books on the table, wanting to continue to read over the texts. Her vision blurred though, and she exhaled exasperatedly, finally resigning to closing the book. None of these books have what I want to know.

For the past two weeks, she had been scouring for any information on her father's ailment, trying out every single medicinal prescription that she had recalled or read on, making sure to test it on herself first. She also poured through ancient texts and mythology to search for anything on her powers, but none of the texts had a description on it.

A cockerel crowed somewhere from the courtyard and Yun stood up, stretching out her numb legs. Dawn meant that she had to brew her father's medicine for the day, and she immediately headed off to the kitchens to do just that by herself.

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Yun's head slumped against the bed, and she immediately jerked upwards, grip tightening on the fan in her hand. The small stove in front of her burned with smoke, the spicy herbal scent filling the room.

The door creaked open, and almost immediately Yun glared sleepily at the person whom entered. Healer Wong shut the door behind him instantly as he caught the strong scent of the herbs in the air. His forehead was pinched as he walked over to Yun and greeted her politely.

"Lady Yun, I see that you are still trying out unknown prescriptions."

"It will do me great pleasure if my father's conditions were to improve, even if it is through unknown prescriptions. It has been too long waiting for him to recover." Yun murmured softly, glancing at the steady rise and fall of her father's chest.

Healer Wong said nothing, but Yun knew that he was going to take her father's pulse as usual, so she moved away. Her nails dug into the palms of her hand as she fought to stay awake, already swaying slightly due to her lack of sleep. Sleep doesn't help me either. She thought numbly.

"Your father is recovering." Healer Wong finally said, and even though she checked her father's pulse regularly by herself, it still brought her an overwhelming sense of relief to hear him say that. "His pulse is getting stronger surely and steadily."

"That is good news indeed. I am glad to hear that, Healer Wong."

"I am glad that your efforts are bearing fruit as well." He pulled the heavy case that he carried around with him, and inside, Yun could see various clay bottles, prescriptions papers and other tools that a healer would need on their rounds.

"This is the wine that you asked me to bring last time. One of the strongest of the batch that I have made this winter."

Yun reached out for the bottle and clutched in preciously in both her hands.

"Just remember that it must be taken in between the medications I gave, three hours after each dose."

"Thank you, Healer Wong." She curtsied and rose to her feet again to escort him out of the room.